Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4 as part of a meal

Calories: 1179

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Potato Taheri is a turmeric flavoured aromatic rice dish to which spiced fried potatoes are added.  It is not quite a pulao – in a Taheri, cooked vegetables are added to spiced, cooked rice, so the vegetables stay crisp (since they don’t get boiled with the rice.)  Either way, it’s simple and yummy!

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup Basmati rice
  • 1 cup water
  • 2-3 medium potatoes, about 250-300g
  • 1 large onion, sliced thinly
  • 4 cloves
  • 2 “cinnamon, about 2 pieces
  • ½ teaspoon cumin
  • 6 black peppercorns
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 green chili sliced half
  • 1 teaspoon salt, divided
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric
  • ½ teaspoon chili, ground
  • 6 tablespoons ghee, divided

 

Instructions:

  1. Pick, wash, and cover rice fully with water in a bowl for a ½ hour.
  2. In a medium-size saucepan heat 2 tablespoons ghee on high heat and fry the onions until slightly browned, for about 2 minutes.
  3. Add cloves, cinnamon, cumin, black peppercorns, bay leaves, and green chilies to onions. Drain and add rice. Sauté until you smell the aroma of the rice, for about 1 minute. Add a cup of water to rice.
  4. Add ½ teaspoon salt and turmeric and bring rice to boil. Lower heat to minimum and cook for 20 minutes.
  5. Boil potatoes in a saucepan of water until cooked through for 10-12 minutes. Do not overcook. When you can stick a sharp knife in, potatoes are done. Peel and cut into long finger slices.
  6. Add ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon turmeric and grounded red chili to potatoes and coat nicely. Heat 4 tablespoons ghee in a large frying pan on high heat. Add potatoes and cook for 2 minutes until brown and crisp.
  7. Remove hot rice to a serving dish. Add potatoes gently to rice and serve hot with raita or yogurt.

 

Critical Ingredients:

A Taheri can be made with any vegetables. Basically, the difference between a Taheri and a pulao is that the vegetables are cooked separately from the rice. So they are crisp and crunchy and not overcooked. You could technically use any vegetable or combination of vegetables. Cauliflower can easily substitute for potatoes. The spices all give a nice flavor, but if you were to leave out one of the whole spices – cinnamon or bay leaves – you still would get flavourful rice. The turmeric, however, is key to both the flavour and colour of the dish. If you’re vegan, feel free to use oil instead of ghee.

 

Mom’s Recipe #3 – Rice with Fried Potatoes (Taheri)

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